With the snow creeping in this November, it’s time to prep your garden for next spring. Fall is a wonderful time to start mixing the compost you created over the summer into your soils.
Natural compost, such a grass clippings and yard debris, work excellent in mending garden soils. Try mixing it in and it will allow the compost to break down into the soil even finer. Evenly spread a layer over an area of your garden that needs tending and then till it into the soil. This will allow you to adjust your PH level later in the fall. Pelletized lime is the best to use in the fall because it breaks down slowly. By taking soil samples, you will be able to control your soils by only adding what is needed.
There are several other items you can use for compost, such as coffee grounds, leftover food, and even bales of straw from Halloween decorations. Coffee grounds are great to use on acid loving plants, like rhododendrons and azaleas, in your flower beds. Many old food table scraps such as lettuce and other uneaten vegetables also add nutrients to soil.
You will find adding compost will develop the correct microorganisms needed to boost plant health. So before that first snow hits, get that compost down to have a low maintenance yard come spring.